Electrical wire clips and female receptacle for receiving wire, tube or transistor prongs



1961 R. R. SCOVILLE 2,969,521

ELECTRICAL WIRE CLIPS AND FEMALE RECEPTACLE FOR CEIVING WIRE, TUBE OR TRANSISTOR PRONGS 4 Sheats$heet, 1

' RE Filed Nov. 20, 1956 408 r///////////////we 7.

Jan. 24, 1961 R. R. SCOVILLE ,969,5

ELECTRICAL WIRE CLIPS AND FEMALE RECEPTACLE FOR RECEIVING WIRE, TUBE 0R TRANSISTOR PRONGS Filed Nov. 20, 1956 r 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

Jew JR Sta /44.5

24, 1961 R. R. SCOVILLE 2,969,521

ELECTRICAL WIRE CLIPS AND FEMALE RECEPTACLE FOR I RECEIVING WIRE, TUBE OR TRANSISTOR PRONGS Filed Nov. 20, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 jdl l l l m INVOR. 45413. 5COV/AAL' R. R. SCOVILLE 2,969,521 ELECTRICAL WIRE CLIPS AND FEMALE RECEPTACLE FOR Jan; 24, 1961 RECEIVING WIRE, TUBE OR TRANSISTOR PRONGS Filed NOV. 20, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Ffa. .16,

INVENTOR. flfis 1?. 66010445 Ray R. Seoville, 5083 Commonwealth Ave., La Canada, Calif.

Filed Nov. 20, 1956, Ser. No. 623,333

3 Claims. (Cl. 339-220) This invention relates to electrical receptacles which are shaped to act as wire clips or female receptacles for wire leads, tube prongs, or transistor prongs.

The invention discloses electrical receptacles which occupy a minimum amount of space, are positive'in action, are well anchored to their insulation base and can be formed for receiving tube or transistor prongs or wires and thus act as female receptacles. The disclosed receptacles can also be used for receiving multi-prong plug-in assemblies. The receptacles provide increased freedom of design of the circuit package because the individual prong receptacles can be positioned exactly Where needed to mate with the corresponding prongs of the plug-in package. The disclosed female receptacles thus enable an electronic engineer to have more freedom in designing or planning the layout of electronic components, and, at the same time, they offer a considerable saving over the cost of known multi-prong electronic circuit plugs. The female receptacles and wire clips disclosed in this application are suitable for use, for example, in connection with the electronic modular units disclosed in my patent application Serial Number 500,850, now US. Patent No. 2,913,634, issued November 17, 1959, for Electronic Modular Units.

It is an object of this invention to provide novel electronic terminals, or wire clips, which are capable of receiving wires, or alternatively prongs, lying in two mutually perpendicular planes, and which can be fastened to insulation boards, or bases, in a positive manner.

It is also an object of this invention to provide an electronic circuit terminal made of hollow metallic tube stock one end of the terminal being expanded outwardly to form an eyelet which normally engages one side of an insulation base, or panel, or strip, and the other end of the terminal being shaped to produce a Wire clip on the other side of the panel, the clip portion of the terminal including two longitudinal slits in the tube and two flared out flaps, or flanges, which may be either corrugated or serrated to provide saw tooth edges for positively holding circuit wires slipped into the slots.

It is also an object of this invention to provide terminals of the above type which are fastened to the insulation panels by means of an expanded eyelet on one side and by means of two staked out flaps on the other side, the flaps cutting slightly into the panels, the insulation panels being provided with punched out orifices for receiving these terminals, whereby the terminals become very rigidly and positively fastened to the panels capable of receiving circuit wires in a'plane passing through the slit of the terminal or along the longitudinal axis of the terminal passing through the longitudinal opening within the terminal.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a terminal which forms an eyelet on one side and a prong, or wire-receiving portion on the other side, said terminal having means for securing it to an-insulation panel.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a terminal of the above type which, is fastened to an insulation ited States Patent Patented Jan. 24, 1961 base, or panel, by means of said eyelet flange on one side and staked out and bent over two flanges members on the other side of the panel.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a terminal of the above type having an additional connecting lug for connecting such terminal to external circuits.

Still another object of this invention is to provide the terminal of the above type which is also provided with an expanded, outwardly projecting ferrule, or a ring, on one side, which acts as a fastening means of said terminal to one side of the panel, and a staked out slit and two flaps, or flanges, on the other side.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a wire clip or, alternatively, a female receptacle for tube, transistor or any wire prong, this wire clip being fastened to an insulation board by means of an eyelet flange on one side and by means of an expanded ring, or a ferrule, on the other side, and having a slit and deformed longitudinal member for acting as a vise for the prong or wire inserted into said member.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a method and means for making the terminals, wire clips and receptacles of the above type.

The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of these inventions, both as to their organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, will be better understood from the following description given in connection with the accompanying drawings in which several embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of several examples. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. Referring to the drawings:

Figs. 1 through 5 illustrate one version of the terminal, Figs. 1, 3 and 5 being side views and Figs. 2 and 4 plan views of the same terminal.

Figs. 6 and 8 are side views and Fig. 7 is a plan view of the terminals illustrated in Figs. 1 through 5 but having serrated or corrugated longitudinal flanges.

Figs. 9 through 14 illustrate side views (Figs. 9, 11 and 14) and a plan view, Fig. 10, of another version of the terminal, while Figs. 12, 13 and 14 illustrate three successive steps in making the terminal shown in Figs. 9 through 11.

Figs. 15 and' 16 illustrate vertical view, partly in section, of the jig used for making slits in a stock used for making the terminals.

Fig. 17 is a transverse section, taken along line 1717 (Fig. 16) of the jig illustrated in Fig. 15.

Fig. 18 is a top plan view of the knife used in the jig shown in Fig. 15.

Fig. 19 is a side view of a tool used for making serrations on terminal flaps.

. Fig. 20 illustrates a top, or plan view of the tool illustrated in Fig. 19; and

Fig. 21 illustrates the perspective view of the upper end, or jaw, of the tool illustrated in Figs. 19 and 20.

Referring to Fig. 1, the terminal '10 is mounted on an insulation panel, or board, 11 by means of an expanded flange 12 on one side of the terminal and flaps, or sidefianges 13 and 14 on the upper side of the terminal. As illustrated at 16 and 17 in Fig. 3, the side-flanges (flaps) cut into surface 15 of the terminal board 11 which produces positive mounting of the terminal on the board. The terminal is thus staked to the board by means of the sector-shaped inner ends 16 and 17 of the side-flanges 14 and 13. The upper portions 19 and 21 of the terminal are flared out to form a funnel-shaped guiding entry into the terminal for facilitating the insertion of vwires wirm may be inserted into this terminal in the manner illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, where two terminals 400 and 401 are shown as mounted on an insulation board 402. A wire 403 interconnects the terminal 400 and 401. The wire is held tightly in terminals 400 and 401 by means of side flaps, or side flanges, 404 and 405 of terminal 401 and flange 406 and 407 of terminal 400. The terminal is also shaped so as to receive a male prong 500 in the direction illustrated by an arrow 501. It is to be understood that the male prong 500 cannot be inserted into the terminal 401 when Wire 403 has already been inserted into terminal 401. However, when no transverse Wire is present in terminal 401, the terminal will have suflicient springing and gripping action so as to act as an effective female terminal for gripping in a positive manner a male prong 500. Terminal 10 is made from tubular stock in the manner which will be described more in detail later in connection with the description of Figs. 15-18. It can also be made of preformed eyelets which are already provided with flange 12 so that the only portion of the terminal which must be completed is the vertical cut 20 which at the same time produces side flanges 13 and 14 and the terminal staking sectors 16 and 17 which fasten the terminal to the terminal board 11. The terminals illustrated in Figs. 1 through 5, therefore, can receive either a lead wire, such as lead Wire 4033, lying in the plane of the drawing as viewed in Fig. 4, or it can also be used for receiving a prong 500. Therefore, the same terminal is capable of accepting a connecting member either in a horizontal or vertical plane, i.e., the terminal is capable of receiving a connecting lead aligned with the longitudinal axis of the terminal or a lead wire displaced at any angle with respect to the longitudinal axis as long as it lies in the plane of the vertical slit 20. A 90 angle is illustrated in Fig. 5. It is the angle between the prong 500 and lead wire 403. This angle may be smaller or greater than 90.

Figs. 6, 7 and 8 illustrate a terminal identical to the terminal shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 except that the sidefianges 100 and 101 now have been serrated as illustrated by the serrations 900, 901 (in actual practice the serrations are finer than those shown in Figs. 911) for more positive retention of wire 102. This terminal can also be provided with an auxiliary cup-shaped terminal similar to that illustrated at 139 in Fig. 11, to be described.

Figs. 9 through 11 illustrate a terminal which differs from that illustrated in Figs. 1 through 8 in that the terminal has been provided with a ferrule 140, or an expansion flange, shaped as a ring, on its lower side as viewed in Figs. 9 and 11, and a cylindrical extension 141. The upper part 142 of the terminal in all other respects is identical to the upper part of the terminal illustrated in all prior figures. It is shown, however, as being identical to the upper part of the terminal illustrated in Fig. l. The terminal is attached to panel 143 by means of the expanded portion, or flange, or ring or ferrule 140, which engages the lower surface 145 of panel 143, side flanges 150 and 151 and their extensions 152 and 153 used for staking the terminal to panel 143 in the same manner as in connection with the previously described terminals. The lower cylindrical portion 141 of the terminal is used as terminal means for fastening any leads located below panel 143. In Fig. 11 this lower portion 141 was given the shape identical to that of the upper portion of the terminal with the result that the prongs and Wires can be connected to the terminal on both sides of panel 143.

Figs. 12, 13 and 14 illustrate the successive steps which take place in the course of making the terminal of Fig. 9. A tubular stock 160 is cut into appropriate lengths and it is then provided with a ferrule 161, which corresponds to ferrule 140 in Figs. 9, l and 11. The upper portion of the terminal is then cut in two semi-cylindrical halves 190 and 191, which simultaneously provides these two halves with the respective side flanges 192 and 193 of the type illustrated at 150 and 151 in Fig. 10. The slitting operation of the lower portion is performed prior to the slitting operation of the upper portion; the upper slit 196 is performed at the time the terminal is mounted on the terminal board 197 which may include a metallic layer 198 such as that used in printed circuits. In this type of terminal only the upper side-edges of the upper side flanges 192 and 193, do not have any plated coatings. However, if it is necessary to have the entire surface of the terminal plated, then panel 197 and all its terminals can be immersed in a plating bath and plated in situ. The above terminal can also be provided with an auxiliary cup-shaped terminal 139 having a lug or tab 139 for connecting conductors or additional circuits to the terminal.

Figs. 15 through 18 illustrate a jig used for making the terminals of the type illustrated inFigs. 1 through 14 and for staking the terminal to the terminal board 250. An eyelet 251 is inserted into a previously punched hole in panel 250. The panel and the eyelet are then inserted or mounted on top of a vertically sliding column, or terminal holder, 252 which is provided with an opening 253 used for accommodating the eyelet which is inserted into this opening, or bore. Panel 250 then rests on top of column 252. Column 252 is provided with a cone-shaped base 254 which normally is held against the cone-shaped inner surface 255 of a hollow cylinder 256 by means of a compression spring 257. The upper end of spring 257 presses against cone 254 while the lower end rests on a tension-adjusting threaded plug 259. Plug 259 has two threads; thread 260 engages the thread on cylinder 256 and thread 262 engages the thread on a centrally mounted pin 264, the upper end of which terminates in a hemispherical surface 265. The vertical position of pin 264 can be adjusted by rotating it with a screw-driver which engages a knife head 267. The upper end of cylinder 256 has a transverse slot 266 of sufiicient width to accommodate a knife 267 which is held securely within the slot by means of two pins 268 and 269. The metal-cutting portion of the knife is shaped as a slightly truncated triangle 270 when viewed from the side. When viewed from the top (plan view), as illustrated in Fig. 18, the knife has the flat top portion 271, two base lines 272 and 273 and ground olf convex surfaces 274 and 275 which are ground off in such a manner as to form two sharp knife edges 276 and 277 which extend from the top 271 to the respective base lines 272 and 273 along the respective side-surfaces 278 and 279 of the knife member 267 which is made of flat hardened steel plate having flat side-surfaces 278 and 279. The entire cutting jig is inserted in a jig holder 280 and clamped by a set-screw 281; holder 280 is mounted and secured to a table of a press provided with a vertically traveling plunger 282.

The operation of the machine is as follows: eyelet 2'51 and terminal board 250 are placed on top of column 252 with eyelet 251 fitting into the central bore 253 in the column. The press then is actuated and plunger 282 presses eyelet 251, board 250 and column 252 down into the extreme lower position illustrated in Fig. 16. In this position, board, or panel, 250 rests on top of cylinder 256 and knife edges 276 and 277 have made two parallel cuts in the tube-shaped, lower portion of eyelet 251. These two cuts are displaced from each other by the distance equal to the thickness t of plate 267. At the same time, the convex surfaces 274 and 275 bend over those portions of tube 285 which are forced to slide over the concave surfaces 274 and 275 of the knife. The two flanges 287 and 288, Fig. 17, eventually are made to slide over the flat surfaces 278 and 279 of the knife with the result that they are made parallel to these surfaces. When the lower end of tube 285 of eyelet 251 encounters the hemispherical upper end 265 of pin 264, this lower end of tube 285 is expanded to produce a flared out, funnel-shaped portions 19 and 21 of terminal 10, Fig. 1. The vertical travel of eyelet 251 and the vertical position of knife 267 are adjusted sov that the triangular portion of the knife and the knife edges project slightly into the plate 250 when the latter is in its extreme lower position illustrated in Fig. 16, which produces the sectors 290 and 291 in the eyelet 251 with the result that terminal, or eyelet, 251 becomes positively staked to the terminal board 250. Upon release of plunger 282, the resulting terminal appears as the terminal illustrated in Figs. 1 through 5.

Flaps 100 and 101, Figs. 6 through 8, are serrated by means of a tool illustrated in Figs. 19 through 21. The tool has two hinged jaws 290 and 291 attached to a vertically traveling plunger 292 by a pin 293. The jaws are provided with two inclined surfaces 294 and 295 which engage two stationary rollers 296 and 297 when plunger 292 is made to travel downward. The jaws are pressed together against the resistance of a spring 310 until the serrated teeth 300 and 300 of one jaw engage the matching teeth 298 and 298 of the other jaw which produces a shearing action on the flanges. The terminal is inserted into an opening 299 in the jaws with the flanges projecting in the manner indicated in Fig. 20.

What is claimed as new is:

1. In combination, a female terminal for electronic circuits, a terminal board having an orifice for accommodating said terminal, said terminal comprising an elongated tubular element insertable into and through said orifice in said terminal board, an expanded portion adjacent one end of said terminal engaging one surface of said board when said terminal is mounted on said board, the other end of said terminal comprising two semicylindrical members, said semi-cylindrical members being spaced from each other to define a slot adapted to receive a conductor extending transverse to the central axis of said tubular element, each of said semi-cylindrical members having a single side flange, one of said side flanges being on one side of said slot, and the other side flange being on the other side of said slot, said side flanges extending outwardlyfrom said semi-cylindrical members in spaced substantially parallel planar relation to one another, said side flanges being of elongated configuration extending along opposed sides of said slot in directions substantially parallel to the central axis of said tubular element, and the lower edges of said side flanges cutting into the other surface of said board when said terminal is mounted on said board whereby said flanges provide structural bracing for said terminal and stake said terminal in place on said board.

2. The structure of claim 1 in which each of said side flanges is serrated.

3. The structure of claim 1 including an auxiliary substantially annular terminal surrounding a portion of said tubular element adjacent the other surface of said board and having means for connecting conductors thereto.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,188,024 Treat June 20, 1916 2,037,620 Dewhurst et al Apr. 14, 1936 2,163,779 Draving June 27, 1939 2,276,571 Grypma Mar. 17, 1942 2,424,528 Wild July 22, 1947 2,464,405 Knauf Mar. 15, 1949 2,610,390 Locke Sept. 16, 1952 2,673,336 Peters Mar. 23, 1954 2,689,337 Burtt et al. Sept. 14, 1954 2,717,943 Daily et al. Sept. 13, 1955 2,846,659 Hinspater et al. Aug. 5, 1958 2,877,441 Narozny Mar. 10, 1959 

